Making home with Alex Honnold

The Alex Honnold you’re probably familiar with — the rock climber who sets speed records free soloing some of the gnarliest walls in the world — is only one snapshot in the home movie that makes up the person. For one thing, he spends just 5% of his climbing time on those high-difficulty, high-publicity exploits. The rest is rope climbing, bouldering, gym climbing.

But there’s also what happens off the rock. No one, not even Alex Honnold, lives on the pitch. We live at home, the place we return to at the end of the day to relax, reflect, and recharge. In Alex’s case, it’s a home entirely of his own making: his camper van.

“My whole van setup is basically the same as what you do when you’re camping, it’s all just nicer.” You’ll see this in the video portrait below — he’s got the mini-fridge, the gas range, the sink, the hangboard, and what looks like one incredibly comfortable bed. This is how Alex Honnold makes home, a home that allows him to live a life of comfort while keeping his passion — that next climbing route — right in his backyard:

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